Why Is Chris Mccandless Justified

Was the pain Chris McCandless brought to his loved ones justified?
“Nothing was more important to Chris than truth. He believed strongly that absolute truth should be part of everything you do in this life.” (Carine McCandless)
To those who knew Christopher McCandless, he was a charming young man with a bright future ahead of him. He was brimming with self-confidence and had a profound respect for nature. During the May of 1990, after graduating from Emory University as a top athlete with high marks and a bright future in front of him, Chris set off on a foolhardy journey of self-discovery, which would take him from his suburban home in Annandale, Virginia, through the Western United States, and ending tragically with his death in Stampede …show more content…
This is quite ironic because in countless occasions throughout the novel Chris comes off as quite a hypocrite. To Chris, however, the biggest hypocrites in his life were his parents. After finding out that his father had been cheating on his mother with his ex-wife, Chris had begun to become increasingly distant with his parents, eventually severing all contact with them. To him, they represented all the evils that the world had to offer. His parents were, in his opinion, duplicitous, ignorant, and self-serving people, yet the people that Chris himself had idolized were all shams in their own right. The one author that he had most often quoted from and had revered was literary genius Jack London. Mr. London, although having made a profound impact on American literature as whole, most of what Mr. London had wrote based on his time in the Klondike was incredibly romanticized. He was also quite known for being a drunkard. (Krakauer 85). It is evident from this that Chris had a habit of not seeing people for who they were but for what they decided to do with their life. And yet he refused to try to work out the difficulties he had with his parents and had instead decided to run away from his problems all …show more content…
He lived his life exactly how he believed it should be lived. While many people would only ever dream about such things, he set out and he did it. His passing has caused a deep and lasting pain within his family and to the friends that he had made along the way, but in a way has solidified him as an inspirational figure for people who want to take control of their lives and follow their dreams. Although Chris did exhibit many negative traits, some of which would to his demise, such as recklessness and pettiness, it is important to that Chris was a human, and he made mistakes. What is most important is his journey. In just two years, Chris had lived his life to the fullest and left a profound impact on the people he had met on his journey, and on the people who would come to read about him and his story after his death. It is without a doubt that Chris has brought much pain to the people who knew him best, but it was with purpose. Although many of Christopher’s actions can be rightfully regarded as damaging and inexcusable to the family and friends he left behind, justification can be found in his intentions and in the love he left behind to those who knew